Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA

Acquisition of Land from Orange County, Virginia Records:

Pages 140-142. Indenture 8 April 1743 between James Patton and John Lewis, of Augusta County, and James Carter of same... for five shillings.. sells 300 acres in Augusta County lying on both sides of Great River of the Calf Pasture... beginning ... William Campbell's land.... (signed) James Patton (seal), John Lewis (seal). Witnesses: Robt. Crockett, John Postin, Samuel Hodges. Payment of ₤10.00.4 .. acknowledged. Recorded Orange County 25 July 1745. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 10, Dorman, pg. 42].

Disposition of Land from Chalkley's:

Page 169.--21st November, 1746. James Carter, millwright, to Robert Gay; 300 acres part of tract granted to James Patton and John Lewis, and sold to Carter by Patton and Lewis 2d April, 1745, on Calfpasture River; corner to John Campbell's land. Witnesses, Jno. Buchanan, Thomas Gillham, Thomas Wood. Acknowledged by James, and dower released by Dinah, his wife, 21st November, 1746. (Note: the mention of James Carter's wife "Dinah" fairly conclusively links James Carter as the same "James Carter and wife Dinah" that had daughter Mary baptized in Cecil County, Maryland in 1740).

Records of James Carter in Augusta County, VA

Vol. 1 - ORIGINAL PETITIONS AND PAPERS FILED IN THE COUNTY COURT. 1745-1748. - Adam Dickson's petition for a road from forks of Cow Pasture to the mill that formerly belonged to James Carter.

Vol. 1 - December 10, 1745. - (3) Mathew Edmondson, James Carter and John Finla to open a road from Andrew Hamilton's in calf-pasture thro' Jennings Gap to John Finla's.

Page 35.--14th April, 1746. James Patton and John Lewis to John Graham, £23.9.6 currency money, Virginia; 606 acres on Great River of Calfpasture, on east side, corner to James Lockridge, corner to Given's land. Witnesses, Thomas Chew and James Carter. Acknowledged by both, 14th April, 1746.

Vol. 1 - August 20, 1746 - (74) John Graham to be overseer from James Carter's mill to the Co. Ho. as far as the first ford above Bell's land--and all tithables from head of the river to John Miller's work it.

Vol. 1 - MARCH 18, 1746/7. - (169) John Archer required to deliver up to Catherine Quin her child, and James Carter and Ro. Davis, arbitrators.

Vol. 1 - SEPTEMBER 17, 1747. - (299) James Carter is going, to leave the Colony. (Note: proves James Carter's intention to go to North Carolina).

Vol. 2 - LIST OF DELINQUENTS - 1748 - James Carter, gone to Carolina.

Page 491.--2d April, 1748. £19.18.4. James Patton and John Lewis to James Corolile, 600 acres on Great River of Calfpasture; corner to Jacob Clemens; corner to Wm. Worwick's land; black birch; black oak and thorn. Teste: James Carter, Robert ( ) Bratton, Robert Crockett. Acknowledged, 18th May, 1748.

Page 267.--27th September, 1753. Commission to Edward Hughs. Squire Boone and James Carter of Roan County, North Carolina, to take acknowledgement of Martha, wife of Morgan Brian, as to deed Brian to David Johnston, then of Augusta County, dated 29th November, 1749. Executed and returned, 20th May, 1754. (Note: this record shows that James Carter had left for Roane County, North Carolina prior to this date).

Records of James Carter in Rowan County, NC

1753 - James McMaken warrant dated 30 November 1753 to James Carter to survey 640 acres in Rowan County on ye Dutchmans Creek or Nere it on Lick pen - including the place where McMaken Lives /s/ Fras Corbin Entered 25 July 1753 Back of document reads: Grant 2 January 1761 Ref: Granville District of NC 1748-1763 Abstracts of Land Records, Vol. 5, Margaret M. Hofmann, 1995

From "More Marylanders to Carolina: Migration of Marylanders to North Carolina and South Carolina Prior to 1800, by Henry C. Peden:

James Carter was probably the son of James and Susannah Carter of Southhampton Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Sometime prior to 1736 he made his way to the Appoquinimink Creek district on the border between Pennsylvania (now Delaware) and Maryland... Carter moved to Augusta County, Virginia in 1744 and settled in the Shenandoah Valley on the Great Calfpasture River. He built a mill and apparently prospered before moving on to the Yadkin in 1747. Carter seems to have located at first on the river itself, but obtained a 350-acre tract on the future site of Salisbury in 1753. He spent the remainder of his life in Rowan County [North Carolina] and died there in 1765. {Additional information listed in this publication}

From "A Colonial History of Rowan County, North Carolina", by Samuel Ervin, Jr.:

The contest between England and France for supremacy in North America, which had ceased for the time being with the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, was renewed in 1754. Most of the tribes of North America were in alliance with the enemy. The frontier of North Carolina was placed in a very precarious situation. At the beginning of the war the Cherokees and Catawbas were friendly to the frontiersmen, but soon the savages began to molest the whites. There was great uneasiness among the people of Anson and Rowan because they did not know at what moment the Indians might take up the tomahawk against the settlements. Early in the year 1754 1,000 pounds in proclamation money that is, in money which was issued by the provincial government and which was greatly depreciated in value was appropriated to buy arms for the poorer inhabitants of Rowan and Anson. The expenditure of this money was entrusted to commissioners in the two counties, James Carter and John Brandon being the commissioners in Rowan. The commissioners wasted a part of the sum and neglected to apply all of it for the purpose designated. The final result of the misuse of these public funds was that the bonds given for the faithful execution of the trust were put to suit. In November, 1757, James Carter was expelled from his seat in the Assembly as member for Rowan, and in the following year judgments were obtained against the commissioners and their sureties for the amounts unaccounted for. In May, 1754, complaints were made by the magistrates and militia officers of Rowan that a party of Indians, supposed to have been Catawbas, had committed several gross abuses on the people of Rowan and Anson. Alexander Osborne and James Carter were directed by the Assembly to investigate the alleged grievances and to represent the same to the Indians. In August they consulted with King Hagler and other warriors of the Catawba nation at the house of Matthew Toole, who acted as interpreter. It developed that some of the young warriors of the Catawbas had been guilty of some misconduct. King Hagler laid the blame for their actions upon the whites who sold "strong spirits" to the braves. The Catawbas promised to give assistance to the North Carolinians and Virginians in case the war continued.